New build and I think my board died

[goaltendah1]

Here is my issue, and hopefully if I give enough info I can get some sort of help before I RMA my board.

I just completed building my HTPC this past Saturday. Specs are as follows:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 6000+ 3.0GHz
Memory: A-Data Extreme Edition DDR2 800 (Voltage rating 2.0-2.2V) <- This may be part of my issue
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint T 500GB
ODD: Lite-On DVD-RW
Case: Antec Veris Fusion Black w/ 430w PSU
Operating System: MS Vista Home Premium

Here's what happened:

I ordered the MOBO, CPU and Memory about a month+ ago when I started researching my build. The problem here was that I didn't research enough on the board and memory, and didn't find out that there was a potential issue until it was too late to return the memory. The board specs on Gigabyte's Website state that the board is rated for 1.8v memory, and the memory that I bought was 2.0-2.2v rated.

So while I was in the process of ordering the remaining parts later on, I did some research on the internet and came across mention of some unreleased to the public bios for my board that would allow for voltage adjustments of the memory. I was able to get in contact with a person who edits on another web site and get these bios sent to me. Obviously it's use at my own risk.

Well I finally get all of the parts last week and I get to building my system, which I get completed Saturday night and I was able to get the memory to work in the system without the bios change. On Sunday I installed the bios that I had gotten through the third party into my system and went into the options for memory voltage adjustments. The setting was for auto, so I figured that I would leave it alone and see how things would go.

Next I started transferring files from my old PC onto this PC via network connection. I loaded around 80-100GB of music and media files onto the new pc without an issue. To this point there were not any issues.

A few hours later though after ripping some video off of my Camcorder I started getting my first issue. The computer crashed (no BSOD though) and restarted. I was prompted with an unexpected shut down notice and the choice to boot safe, normally, etc. So I booted normal. Things worked fine for a few more hours, but while converting the video that I had just ripped to DVD the PC crashed again.

Again I get the same prompt at startup, so I went into the logs to see what the issue was. I copied and pasted an error from the log into Goggle and searched to see what I could come up with and there were mentions of viruses. I had yet to install an anti-virus program into the PC, but as I wasn't planning on using the pc to surf the net, just as an HTPC, I didn't intend on doing so.

The first suspect I had at this point was perhaps I had moved an unknown virus from my old PC to the new PC via my net work while transferring files, so I downloaded an anti virus program off of the internet and started searching my system. This is where the crashes became more frequent. Every time I tried to search the system it would crash an hour or so later.

After a while I started to question what the real issue was. Would a virus cause my PC to crash? Yes. But the more I thought about it the more I thought that it was responding more like an unstable system.

My next thought was that the CPU may have been unstable, so I checked the core temp (which I had done repeatedly when the system was running fine. The CPU never got over 30' Celsius the entire time. That seemed kind of odd to me though, because I always read about people getting temps in the high 40's with the same processor, but then I also remembered that my case has 2 120mm fans camped out next to the CPU pulling the hot air off, a Scythe Mini Ninja CPU heat sink and fan that are blowing the air through the heat sink and out the 120mm fan side. So the temp may be correct, I don't know. It was fluctuating, so I know that it was reading temp and not just posting a number in the bios.

So it may be the CPU at this point, but I have my doubts.

Anyways, the shutdowns become more frequent to the point that the PC just stops booting. I'm now to the point that when I push the power button, the only reaction I get is that the power button lights up, the psu fan, both 120mm fans and the cpu fan work, as well as the lights for the network connection lighting up and even the LCD screen on the face of the system.

I have tried clearing the bios in hope that would fix it, but that was a no go there. I pulled the memory and put it into channels 3&4 to see if that may work. No go there as well. I let the system sit overnight and still no joy. Something died in my new PC, and I'm not 100% sure what caused it. Here are my thoughts and suspicions:

Bad bios - There is a strong chance that the bios I loaded into my system are not good. Why else would Gigabyte not have released this version to the public?

Bad memory - meaning the voltage isn't compatible with the board, but if so, why did the board boot at all, and also, why was it stable for over 24 hours without a single issue?

Virus - could be from a file from my old PC, but if so, why hasn't my old PC bought the farm yet?

CPU- could be as well, but I'm crossing my fingers and actually hoping that it's the MOBO.

Last thought: my pc doesn't have a case speaker, so I couldn't tell you if there were any beeps to let me know what the issue potentially was.

Any thoughts? I would greatly appreciate any help. I intend to RMA the board and buy the correct memory along with that to ensure that the issue doesn't arise again, as well as using only Gigabyte approved bios, but I want to see if any of the above issues can really be the problem. If it's potentially a virus that crippled my system to the point of killing it, I want to find it before it causes any more issues. I haven't found it in a scan of my old PC, but that doesn’t mean jack. Can memory voltages cause system instability? Can bios cause the system to take a crap? I'm sure it can, but I still wanted to check.

Is there anything I can try before I RMA this board, or am I better off just sending the board back and starting all over again?

Thanks for reading.

Jeff

 

[notherdude]

I have a thought! The voltage is just enough to get that RAM running but not enough to run it correctly. The voltage setting is by no means an all or nothing proposition. This is actually what I would EXPECT from undervolting.

Did you ever take it off 'auto' and set it to 2.2 manually? If not do so and see if that's it. I'm don't know if 'auto' will be able to sense or determine what the RAM needs. In any even, set in manually for sure!!

Another option is to put some other RAM in there that is known to be compatible with your board and that runs at 1.8 v. If it works then RAM is the problem.

I wouldn't look too much past the obvious here and start worrying about a bunch of other stuff. Get to the bottom of the RAM issue first. I doubt seriously you did in the board with the BIOS and the chance of a virus doing this is almost nil.

 

[Mondoman]

Here are a few things to consider:
1) You didn't mention whether you installed Windows freshly on the new system, or just installed a hard drive with a previous install already on it. If the latter, you will at least have to do a "repair install" of Windows, so that it can install the proper Hardware Abstraction Layer files for the chipset etc of your new MB.
2) Run memtest86+ (freely available as a bootable CD or floppy disk image) to check if your RAM is working properly. www.memtest.org
3) Even if your DDR2 RAM requires a higher-than-standard voltage in order to run at its specs, it must be able to run at standard 1.8V (perhaps at slower speed/timings), or it is by definition defective, and thus qualifies for replacement under the manufacturer's warranty.
See this post for more details: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/200599-30-memory-nooob-aarrggghh-timings#t1249881

 

[notherdude]

Here are a few things to consider:
1) You didn't mention whether you installed Windows freshly on the new system, or just installed a hard drive with a previous install already on it. If the latter, you will at least have to do a "repair install" of Windows, so that it can install the proper Hardware Abstraction Layer files for the chipset etc of your new MB.
2) Run memtest86+ (freely available as a bootable CD or floppy disk image) to check if your RAM is working properly. www.memtest.org
3) Even if your DDR2 RAM requires a higher-than-standard voltage in order to run at its specs, it must be able to run at standard 1.8V (perhaps at slower speed/timings), or it is by definition defective, and thus qualifies for replacement under the manufacturer's warranty.
See this post for more details: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/200599-30-memory-nooob-aarrggghh-timings#t1249881

That's interesting mondoman. But if his speed/timings are at set at the high performance level and his voltage is low could this not still cause probelms? I suppose if it all auto-detects properly he'd be OK.

I thought I had also seen a number of threads lately where some ppl couldn't even initially boot their PCs for this reason. Or else they could boot into BIOS but not install or run windows without adjusting the vdimm up. Or so they reported.

 

[goaltendah1]

Mondoman, it was a fresh install of windows, sorry for not clarifying that earlier.

I can't test the memory or clear the bios at this point as the pc won't boot to the bios.

My other PC is circa 2002, so there isn't anyway I can swap the memory out and see if that will work on the other pc.

I think what I will do is RMA the board, get new memory and go from there and see what happens next time. Hopefully it's not the CPU. I can return it as it's a boxed processor, but I would have to go through AMD for that instead of the retailer as my 30 day return window has come and gone.

Thanks for the feedback.

Jeff

 

[Mondoman]

Re-reading your post, I would suspect the power supply, especially since it may be a low-end "freebie" that came with the case.

 

[vulcan1]

If it's any help, I am one of the people who recently posted about some similar experiences. I had periodic restarts, freezes, then one day I can't boot up at all and can't get into bios. The HD's spin, monitor turns on, fans turn on, but nothing else.

I have yet to fully figure it out, but believe that a component went bad on the mobo. I've tried everything else I can think of...

--swapped power supplies
--swapped reversed ram, swapped ram
--swapped HD's, video card, etc.
--unplugged all peripherals... NOTHING has helped.

If you figure something out, let me know!

 

[Mjcurry3]

AHHH, had this same problem with my mobo, different model but still a gigabyte. Been reading reviews on the gigabytes ALOT, and this is a VERY VERY common problem with the gigabyte mobo's.... Thinking after this refund-RMA ill buy a different brand.